Obama is pushing for additional funding for education
Posted by Beth DuBose on Jan 29, 2010
In the State of the Union address on Thursday, January 27, 2010, President Obama discussed a $4 billion increase in the education budget. A large part of the billion dollar increase, $1.35 billion, will go to increasing the amount of funding in the Race to the Top funds. As well as increasing funding, he will also have these grants, originally limited to states, opened up to school districts.
The 2011 budget is expected to be realesed on Monday, along with plans to consolidate 38 Educational Departments into 11 and elimate 6 programs. No news, yet, on which departments or programs will be affected.
My concern with this increased funding is the fact that it has strings attached. Districts have to use it for what HE tells them too. As the wife of a teacher living in a high cost-of-living area and struggling to pay bills each month, it would be nice to not have received the letter from the union stating that next year we would likely be looking at pay cuts(teacher furloughs)and instead get even just a cost of living adjustment. Makes me wonder why we have to pay the union so much…